Dein erstes Forum » n trailed at halftime as things werent gelling of

With an empty Coke can, a plastic bottle, or even just a stone, we used to play football. Drop down a pair of jumpers for goalposts and you have an instant pitch in classrooms, corridors, and even the little patio at my grandmas house, where I played epic matches against my sister. To form a basic game of football cost absolutely nothing. And yes, cricket too: with improvised bats from bits of wood and balls shaped from scrunched-up paper. You can pretend to be a national legend when stroking a sphere of rubbish along the floor with a rolled-up umbrella.However, if you actually take the field and formally upgrade, the financial costs of playing football and cricket rapidly diverge.Ask Durham, relegated from top-flight cricket because they couldnt balance their books.Ask mum and dad when their son or daughter picks up a bat.Ask the club cricketer walking to the crease on a Saturday afternoon, where the rising price of playing is at its most extortionate. Before even being picked for his team, the treasurer will have asked for his annual subs, and while not as wallet-emptying as joining a golf club, these could be anything from ￡100 upwards, along with a weekly match fee - the last time I played league cricket, this was ￡15 a game.Still, our amateur is eager, and he has paid his bills and is striding to the middle. Depending on whether he wants his boots to fall apart before he scores that century, or he rightly understands that his feet are precious - my dad once broke his ankle darting for a quick single when one set of spikes stuck and the others slipped - and need support, he could have forked out anything from ￡20 for a pair of clodhoppers to ￡125 for a pair of cutting- edge Asics that promise to help him run quicker between the wickets.Inside this boot is a sock - white, because no one rates a player wearing any other colour. And for a day standing in the field this sock might include ventilation channels and be constructed from choice Merino wool and polypropylene to wick away moisture and set you back ￡10-￡15 a pair. And unless youre a cricket brute who thinks its okay to take guard in a pair of chinos, youll be wearing whites: a shirt and pair of trousers that may or may not be included in your team subs.Youre dressed for the sport and youve paid to be on the pitch. Now you need protection.Before pads, the Gentlemen and Players of yesteryear would suffer gangrene from cricket-ball welts. So you don modern leg guards that make you look like a stormtrooper, especially in addition to that brand new helmet, the second one you have bought in two seasons as your old lid didnt conform to the latest ECB British standard regulations banning movable grilles. Still, safety is paramount, and if your teeth get knocked out, your dentist becomes part of the cricket-cost equation, rather than the landlord after you buy that round in the pub after the game. Besides, at your level, batting on the occasional minefield wicket, you need all the defence you can get against a ball weighing 5? ounces, travelling up to 90mph - not to mention costing anything from ￡5 (if you want to bowl with something shaped liked a potato after ten overs) to ￡90. You also need hand-stitched gloves (even cheap gloves are handmade, due to their design complexity) to defend your digits, and a priceless box. Finally, and most importantly - and most expensive - your bat. Your beloved blade, an extension of your body. The bat you choose represents something of your character, and perhaps your financial situation. Some men buy flashy cars in a mid-life crisis, others buy bats. Interviewed on Test Match Special this season, fellow writer Jon Hotten wondered if the pricey clefts of his team-mates would ever make more runs than they had cost in pounds. The problem is that bat quality does tend to equal bat price. You can get lucky with a bargain plank, and find the middle pings even when the grain wavers and the knots spoil the finish, but the best willow will cost.So there our club player stands, kitted out and settled up with the treasurer, ready to face his first ball of the season, a delivery that will pitch on a wicket tended and maintained by professional ground staff. Even the mangiest of park tracks will, despite appearances, have been mowed, weeded, scarified and rolled. A strip will have been painted on, sightscreens erected, and quite possibly an umpire who is not one of your mates will be adjudicating, and expecting a few quid in exchange for listening to bowlers swear at him all afternoon.Cricket costs. It drains pockets of the impoverished keen. Its simply not a cheap sport when played properly, and I do wonder how many kids from less privileged backgrounds dont get into the game because they, or their parents, cant afford it. Good schools, usually private, provide proper facilities. Bad comprehensives cant afford a manicured square and paid coaches. Vandals set fire to my own schools artificial strip a week after it was laid.Thankfully, beyond the governing bodies who ultimately dole out cash coming in from the clubs, amateur players and spectators, there are benefactors: sponsors, broadcasters, great charities, like Chance to Shine, dedicated mums and dads who dig deep so their children can take the pitch in proper whites and proper kit, and the generous clubs who subsidise the less well-heeled player.Cricket costs, but its also a sport people obsess about. A sport we love. And when were in love, we find a way. Cheap Denver Broncos Jerseys . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. wholesale nfl jerseys china .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. http://www.wholesalenfljerseyschina.net/?tag=cheap-buffalo-bills-jerseys . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. Cheap Cleveland Browns Jerseys . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Cheap Washington Redskins Jerseys .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. OMAHA, Neb. -- Having spent plenty of seasons as big game hunters, Creighton coach Greg McDermott doesnt mind that the Bluejays have become a team others would like to knock off.Such is the life of a Big East Conference basketball team that began the season ranked in the Top 25 and jumped 10 spots in one week after soundly defeating Wisconsin and three other foes from Power 5 conferences.Were in a league now where weve had an opportunity to play a number of ranked teams, so weve been that team, McDermott said. You have a little more juice, maybe a little more focus to your preparation because you realize youre playing a team thats ranked in the Top 25.Weve been on both sides of it. Were the hunted right now, which is okay.Creightons last three victories came at the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands. Those wins moved the No. 12-ranked Bluejays to 5-0 ahead of Saturdays 3:30 p.m. CST game against Loyola (Md.) at CenturyLink Center.The Greyhounds are 2/3 following a home victory Wednesday over Fairfield. Loyolas other victory came over Millersville.The Jays passed their toughest test of the young season with their victory in Mondays Paradise Jam championship game by rallying in the second half for an 86-77 victory over Ole Miss. McDermott especially liked the way Creighton picked up the intensity on the boards in the final 20 minutes.I think the Ole Miss game was good for us, McDermott said. We didnt play particularly well in the first half, and Ole Miss certainly had a lot to do withh that.ddddddddddddA few years ago, we beat Oklahoma, jumped into the Top 25 and we quickly disappeared and were never to be heard from again.It was good that we were able to back up a very emotional, huge win for our program with three pretty solid wins.The tournament showed the Creighton faithful and future opponents what a weapon Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster can be in the backcourt. Foster was named the Paradise Jam MVP not just because he scored 56 points in the Jays three wins.Creighton trailed at halftime as things werent gelling offensively the way they had for the Jays in previous games, especially the 112-94 win over North Carolina State the previous night.The first half we werent playing well as a team, McDermott said. He single-handedly kept us in the game until we could get in the locker room and get some things figured out. Marcus gives us another guy who can make tough baskets. He can do it from the 3-point line with a guy in his face.Foster is averaging 18 points per game. Hes one of five Jays who have a points-per-game average in double figures. The others are Khyri Thomas (14.6), Maurice Watson (12.6), Cole Huff (11.0) and Justin Patton (10.6).Those numbers have helped Creighton average 93.8 points per game, which ranks the Jays 17th nationally. They also are No. 4 in field goal percentage (.545) and second from three-point territory (.508). ' ' '